Source: National Geographic
One of the biggest unanswered questions in history for the past few thousand years is the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Since its erection, it has been an unsolved enigma as to how the ancient Egyptians moved stones into place, as they weigh in the order of several tons each, and the sophisticated techniques they employed to shape these enormous pieces of limestone and hold them in place, as they never utilised any machines or sophisticated technology in its erection.
However, in the year 2013, an important discovery was unearthed at the site called the Wadi El-Jarf in Egypt’s Red Sea coastal town, holding the Red Sea Papyri, an account left by the journal of Merer, an ancient chief overseer of the Great Pyramid.
The forgotten Red Sea port that helped build the Great Pyramid
Wadi El-Jarf today seems to lie off Egypt’s Red Sea coast as a quiet patch of desert meeting sea. Yet over 4,500 years ago, it was a bustling port of immense strategic importance.
First found in 1823 by British traveller John Gardner Wilkinson, the site had been mistaken for a cemetery from Greco-Roman times. Much later, during the 1950s, French archaeologists François Bissey and René Chabot-Morisseau assumed it could have been a center for metalworking.It wasn’t until 2008 that French Egyptologist Pierre Tallet realised its importance: Wadi el-Jarf was an important logistical port during the reign of Pharaoh Khufu, allowing for the transport of crucial construction supplies to Giza.
Approximately 240 kilometres away from the pyramid, the port managed to facilitate the shifting of copper from the Sinai Peninsula and limestone from the quarries of Tura-all by vessels traversing the Red Sea.
Merer’s journal shows how the Great Pyramid was built
The most revolutionary discovery made at Wadi El-Jarf was a collection of ancient papyri, now named the Red Sea Papyri. The most interesting of these are the journals written by a person named Merer, a chief overseer tasked with documenting the day-to-day activities carried out while transporting limestone slabs to be used to construct the Great Pyramid of Giza.
The writings are a glimpse into the unmatched ingenuity of the ancient Egyptians.Merer’s diary shows the disciplined, military-organized schedule followed by Merer’s 200-strong team over a span of three months. For example:Day 25: “Inspector Merer spent the day with his team moving stones to Tura-South; spent the night at Tura-South”Day 26: “Inspector Merer left Tura-South with his team on a boat, filled with limestone blocks, to Akhet-Khufu [the Great Pyramid], spending the night at She-Khufu [administrative area near Giza].”These detailed records demonstrate the scale and detail of the operation, which included multiple trips each day, visiting quarries and the pyramid site.
How professional labour and elite supervision built Egypt’s iconic pyramid
Until recent years, the popular imagination has cast the pyramid builders as enslaved laborers, conscripted into service by a tyrannical Pharaoh. The journal kept by Merer, however, paints a very different picture. As skilled professionals, the workers were paid in rations of bread, meat, dates, beer, and legumes because money did not form part of the Ancient Egyptian economy.The journal also presents evidence of the elite of Egypt overseeing construction. Individuals like Ânkhkhâf, half-brother of Khufu and “chief of all the king’s works,” are found directly overseeing operations. One such fragment reads:Day 24: Inspector Merer spends the day with his za hauling [text missing] with people in elite positions, aper-teams, and the noble Ankh-haf, director of Ro-She Khufu.This would have shown that the pyramid project was a highly organized venture that brought together professional workers’ know-how with the overall strategic guidance provided by the most important figures in the kingdom.
How the Great Pyramid was built with precise planning
What is valuable about Merer’s journal is that, while it documents movement, it also gives us an idea about ancient project management approaches. Every single move with regard to these ships carrying stones was monitored, documented, and coordinated. This was clearly unprecedented for ancient times, giving us an idea that not only did work on such an ambitious project as the Great Pyramid require manpower and materials, but also an unprecedented level of coordination, monitoring, and project management.
